1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Internet protocol (IP) telephones.
2. Background Art
IP (Internet protocol) telephones are being increasingly used by people to make phone calls. An IP phone uses a Voice over IP (VoIP) technology that enables a telephone call to be made over an IP network rather than through the traditional PSTN (public switched telephone network) system. As such, IP phone calls are made over networks such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), or combinations of networks, such as the Internet.
In addition to providing voice capabilities for a user, some IP phones may also function as a bridge between a computer system, such as a PC (personal computer) client, and a network. In such IP phones, data packets transmitted between the computer system and the network are bridged with basic switching technology that is included in the IP phone. As a result, data packets that may be unwanted and/or potentially dangerous are blindly forwarded between the computer system and the network without an inspection of packet rate and/or packet content. These uninspected data packets may be dangerous to other devices coupled to the network. Such data packets are commonly transmitted from computers without the knowledge and/or consent of the computer user due to various factors such as a computer mis-configuration or a computer virus. Left unchecked, these undesired data packets have the potential to adversely impact normal operation of the network and to disrupt other network endpoints.